 | Dear ~~first_name~~,
We are now in the final weeks of a federal election campaign that many have found uninspiring. For those of us who work in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, and perhaps especially in universities, there has been little to cheer about. Higher Education has featured predominantly at times, but only as a threat to affordable housing. The Coalition, having opposed Labor’s ill-considered attempt to impose caps in the last Parliament, has now proposed a cap of 30,000 students lower than the government did. The Coalition also wants a hike in visa fees, and at a higher level for the Group of 8 than the rest.
While it must be liberating for the major parties to lay the blame on international students for a housing crisis made by decades of government failure in housing policy, it is unquestionably bad for Higher Education. The effect of imposing more cuts to foreign student numbers will be seen in university financial crises and job redundancies. It is a strange way to treat one of the country’s most lucrative export industries.
Australia’s government investment in R&D, meanwhile, remains at record-low levels: in 2022-23, it dropped to under half of 1% of Gross Domestic Product. So much for the clever country Bob Hawke said he wanted. Australia’s universities are falling down international league tables, if these are seen to be meaningful (They are to international students, although we’ve already sent the message we don’t want as many of them so perhaps that no longer matters.)
CHASS urges voters to question candidates about their views on Higher Education, and Arts and Cultural Policy. There isn’t an electorate in the country that does not depend on the work done by HASS educators, researchers and practitioners. Every university campus, every school, every federal, state and territory government agency and local government authority, and every gallery, library, museum and gallery, large and small, depend on skills and expertise built and nurtured by HASS.
CHASS has produced an Election Statement for 2025. We urge everyone connected with CHASS to share it far and wide and to remind candidates of why HASS matters – to our economy for sure, but also to our wellbeing and identity.
Our Election Statement can be found on the CHASS website here.
Frank Bongiorno AM FRHistS FASSA FAHA
CHASS President
| | HASS Scholarships & Fellowships | NEW: National Library of Australia Fellowships
Open to researchers in various fields and disciplines, these fellowships offer financial and research support for residencies at the National Library. Providing extended access to Australia's largest cultural collection, National Library Fellowships foster research that produces new knowledge to shape Australia's intellectual landscape and contributes to public understanding of our collections.
NEW: Torrens University Australia Scholarships
Torrens University Australia is looking for two PhD students linked to an ARC study on alcohol reduction and hope. They're offering two PhD scholarships worth $33,511 per year (for 3 years) plus a full tuition fee waiver.
| Congress
2025 Congress of HASS
CHASS
The University of Melbourne
Monday 24 - Friday 28 November 2025
SAVE THE DATE
Conferences
Sociology in Action! Wellbeing, Policy, and Activism in Times of Crises and Change
TASA
The University of Melbourne
Monday 24 - Thursday 27 November 2025
CSAA Conference 2025
Cultural Studies Association of Australia
The University of Melbourne
Wednesday 26 - Friday 28 November 2025
Abstract Submission Deadline: July 25.
The ANZAMEMS 15th Biennial Conference: ‘Possibilities’
ANZAMEMS
The University of Melbourne
Wednesday 3 - Friday 5 December 2025
Expert Panels
Influencers and Gender Politics in South East Asia
IERLab & Asian Cultural Research Hub
Friday 9 May, 11AM - 4PM
Book Launch
New: Frank Arkell Biography
Sir Roland Wilson Building SRWB 202 Theatrette
Friday 2 May, 6PM - 7:30PM
To be launched by CHASS President Professor Frank Bongiorno
| All of the below articles are available on open access:
van Mulken, M., & Heslenfled, L. (2025). Improving Complaint Handling: The Rhetorical Turn in Defensive and Accommodative Strategies. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906241308523
Gnevsheva, K., Bou Orm, H., & Travis, C. E. (2025). Assessing language-based discrimination in Australia: The effect of speaker accent in employability judgements. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 45(1), 92–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/07268602.2025.2453927
Wilson, W., & Rose, H. (2025). A Genre, Scoring, and Authorship Analysis of AI-Generated and Human-Written Refusal Emails. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906251322890
Li, B., Li, Y., Morris, A., Fan, Y., Gu, X. and Katz, I. (2025), Intergenerational Family Relationships and Old-Age Volunteering: The Perspectives of Older Chinese Immigrants in Greater Sydney, Australia. Aust J Soc Issues. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.70009
Copland, S., Noble-Carr, D., Carroll, K., & Waldby, C. (2025). Rethinking Men’s Grief: A Case Study of Bereaved Fathers’ Involvement in Lactation and Human Milk Donation After Infant Loss. Men and Masculinities. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X251327420
Zavala Barreda, K., & Milan, S. (2025). Platformized childhood: How app stores construct children’s software audiences through platform governance and industry lore. Media, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437251328194
Karinna Saxby, Sara Hutchinson Tovar, Glenda M. Bishop, Ian Down, Ricki Spencer, Dennis Petrie, Zoe Aitken - Gender identity and mental health inequalities 2001–2022: population-level evidence from an Australian cohort study: BMJ Mental Health 2025;28:e301277. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjment-2024-301277
Liu, X. (2025). Bridging Cultures in Virtual Workplaces: A Communication-Focused Review of Global Virtual Teams. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906251327747
Tarzia, L., Navarro Medel, C., McLindon, E., Ezer, P., Forbes-Mewett, H., Tran, L. T., Murdolo, A., & Hegarty, K. (2025). Experiences of Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Among Women International Students in Australia. Violence Against Women. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012251323267
Wendt, Sarah; Clarke, Josephine (2024). A study into the experiences of clergy and church workers in the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide when responding to abuse of children, sexual assault of adults, and domestic and family violence. Final report June 2024. The University of Melbourne. Report. https://doi.org/10.26188/26316742.v1
Foley, K., McLean, C., De Zylva, R., Asa, G., Maio, J., Batchelor, S., Dzando, G., & Dimassi, A. (2025). Developing a Critical Imagination for How Researchers can use Artificially Intelligent Tools Reflexively and Responsibly During Qualitative Literature Reviews. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251316249
Wright, T., Conley, H., Mamode, J. C., & Sarter, E. (2025). From social justice to social value: The changing fortunes of using public purchasing for social ends. Public Policy and Administration. https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767251330451
Moghimi, H. (2025). Politics of Othering and Censorship in Iranian Cinema: A Butlerian Analysis of Foreclosure. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 18(1), 76-100. https://doi.org/10.1163/18739865-01801001
Nguyen-Trung, K. (2025). From Numbers to Narratives: Becoming a Qualitative Researcher in the Global South. Vietnam Journal of Education, 9(Special Issue), 156–167. https://doi.org/10.52296/vje.2025.487
| Historian, and CHASS President, Frank Bongiorno on 'Dramatic Shifts In How Elections Are Fought And Won'
A podcast hosted by Michelle Grattan, called Politics with Michelle Grattan recently had an episode about the lacklustre nature of this election's campaigns and how campaigning has changed across the decades with the adoption of new techniques and technologies.
The podcast can be accessed here.
| | HASS Employment Opportunities |
NEW: Postdoctoral Research Associate - First Nations
Full Time
University of Sydney
NEW: Digital Fabrication Lab Coordinator
Full Time
University of Sydney
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sociology
Part Time
University of Sydney
NEW: Visiting Professor of Australian Studies 2026
Contract
Seoul National University
NEW: Associate Lecturer, Digital Design (3D Animation & VE)
Full Time
RMIT University
NEW: Senior Lecturer – Design (Apple Foundation Program Coordinator)
Full Time
Edith Cowan University
NEW: Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Primary Literacy Education
Full Time
RMIT University
NEW: Lecturer in Development Studies
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Senior Lecturer (Creative Humanities)
Full Time
Edith Cowan University
NEW: Hugh Ramsay Postdoctoral Fellowship
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: ARC Industry Laureate Post Doctoral Research Associate
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Postdoctoral Research Fellow - DIY Commemoration of the Dead
Part Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Level A/B Lecturer (Teaching Specialist) in Korean Studies
Part Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: School of Design and Architecture
Full Time
Swinburne University of Technology
NEW: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Curriculum Development
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Lecturer, Public Policy
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Lecturer, Journalism
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Lecturer in Global Creative Industries
Full Time
University of Melbourne
NEW: Chancellor's Research Fellowships
Full Time
University of Technology Sydney
| The Wawu Study survey is now open for submissions. The Wawu First Nations Connection Project seeks to explore and document the experiences of connection, disconnection, isolation, exclusion, and disenfranchisement among First Nations peoples. Our aim is to understand how those who feel marginalised or disconnected perceive their wellbeing and explore the often overlooked or unrecognised practices that contribute to a sense of connection, particularly spiritual connection and connection to culture.
| | CHASS Federal Election Statement | We encourage you to support the HASS sector by sharing details about your discipline/department via this newsletter. No news is too small of too big. Any mention of HASS is of value to our sector and we plan on continuing to extend the reach of our newsletter overtime. Please submit all content to CHASS Digital Publications via digitalpublications@chass.org.au . Suggested content includes, but is not limited to:
- Awards and Prizes
- Call for Papers (journals/conferences)
- Call for Book Chapters
- Competitions
- Discipline/Department news
- Industry connections
- Funding Opportunities
- Job and/or scholarship opportunities (these will also be listed on our publicly searchable website directory)
- Publications, especially those with free full access
- Social sciences week events
- Other upcoming events
- Submissions
- Social gatherings
| | Increasing our Newsletter Reach | You can help increase our newsletter's reach by sharing the below link with your friends and colleagues. The link will enable them to be added to the mailing list for our newsletter.
| Supporting CHASS 2025 Congress of HASS: | Contact CHASS Digital Publications:
digitalpublications@chass.org.au | |